Chapter 75

Jane blinked sleepily as Ryder sat at the foot of his bed with her feet on his lap as he tied her shoes. Sweet Ryder.

“Are you gonna be able to walk?” He lifted his head to meet her bleary stare. “Or should I carry your newborn Bambi trying-to-walk ass?”

“That’s so descriptive it’s cute.” She grinned but it was a sleepy smile. “I’m sore and tired.” She seriously felt like she’d had the workout of a lifetime. Her stomach, her legs, her vagina—they all screamed in sweet agony.

Ryder was more alert than she was, but the faint circles under his eyes proved how tired he really was. After all, they’d only gotten two hours of sleep, and it was already six in the morning. “I’ll carry you then.”

She was going to argue and stop being so whiny, but he already had her in his arms. After situating her legs around his waist and pulling her head to his shoulder like a baby, he carried her out of the room.

“This is one of those moments I envy David gets to be your stepbrother,” he said as he descended the stairs.

“I don’t think you and I would ever get along as brother and sister.” She couldn’t even imagine it.

“We’d be kinky as fuck, babe. I’m not noble like he is; I’d fight my dad if it meant I got to love you.” He chuckled, pausing on the last step. “Fuck.”

Jane turned, her jaw dropping at the living-room full of guys. Some were passed out, but most were lounging, sipping either beers or orange juice. It looked like someone had made breakfast because a group was huddled around a mixture of pizza and pancakes.

Archer laid on his back at the center of the group. He waved with his slice of pizza. “Morning, beautiful.”

There were knowing smiles all around but not one of them teased her or Ryder.

“Who the fuck wants sausage?” Savaş came strolling out with a sizzling pan. It was popping grease everywhere, even smacking his massive bare chest, but he didn’t even flinch. He merely waved the spatula at her. “Mornin’, Tex. Want some sausage?”

“I think she already had some.” Archer snickered as someone threw a pillow at him. “I couldn’t resist.”

Ryder was too pleased with himself, apparently, because he only turned to her. “You want breakfast? Or do you want me to take you home?”

“Um . . .” She scanned the group of guys, most of them shirtless. “Maybe take me home. I’ll have breakfast next time.”

The boys cheered, high-fiving each other.

Ryder shook his head at them, carrying her away from the boys celebrating that she was declaring there would be a next time. “I’d rather them focus on us,” Ryder said, “than the shit that happened after the game.”

Jane stiffened as his words hit her hard. She’d been avoiding thinking about it, and even the thing with Kingston, but now it was time to go back to reality.

“Hey,” Ryder said, smoothing her hair back. “You know I’m not letting that fucker get close to you again. And we’ll work out shit with your stepdad. He should fucking know no one hits my brothers but us.”

She closed her eyes, tightening her arms around his neck as he talked. He anchored her to the present, but the moment he went silent, it felt like Dylan’s finger was sliding down her throat. “No,” she gasped, pushing away from Ryder.

He stopped walking right in the middle of the yard and sat down with her, rocking her. “Look at me, Jane.”

His voice wasn’t Dylan’s, but she was struggling to breathe. She couldn’t look at him. She’d been taken so easily. No one saw. No one helped.

“Jane,” Ryder said, remaining calm. “I was there with you—just a little bit away, but I was there. I saw. I stopped him. I’ll stop him, baby girl. Now, look at me.”

It was a command, a powerful one, and Jane’s eyes flew open, locking onto an emerald pair. She cried, touching his cheek as he smiled.

“That’s it. See? I’m here.” He watched her struggling to get enough air. “Breathe, it will pass.” He kept smoothing her hair back but then he lowered his hand to her chest, pressing his palm over his spot. “Feel me?”

Tingles. Jane nodded, dragging in air as she tried to keep his green eyes in sight.

“I didn’t want him to hurt you more,” he said calmly. “I knew if I revealed myself too soon, before I could reach you, he might hurt you. I had no idea if he had a weapon or anything; I couldn’t risk charging out there. So I waited until you got close enough. He wasn’t taking you anywhere, Sweet

Jane.”

“I’m sorry.” She kept gasping, her heart. Her heart . . . Oh, no, she was having a heart attack. “I think I’m dying.”

He shook his head, pressing his hand over her heart. “You’re having a panic attack. It’s okay. Just focus on me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

No, but he couldn’t stop her from dying, which is what she was doing right now.

A car door slammed, and she faintly heard a familiar voice as the world seemed to spin out of control. Everything kept getting dark around the edges of her vision, but she refused to look away from Ryder. If she was going to see one last thing before she died, it was him.

“What happened?” Heat blasted down on her just as a burning brush against her cheek jolted her in Ryder’s arms.

“She’s having a panic attack,” Ryder was saying. “The shit with Dylan.”

“Baby?” David. It was David. “Give her to me.”

“Sit the fuck down,” Ryder snapped. “She stays with me, but I’ll hold her between us.” “David?” she called out.

“It’s me.” He leaned closer, pressing his lips to the back of her head. “I’m home.”

Jane cried, embarrassed and afraid. They were going to be taken from her. Dylan was going to get her.

“Jane,” Ryder said, that command again, as he tilted her chin up. “We’re here. David and I are here. You’re not dying. You’re not going to be taken.”

She hiccupped, nodding. David’s hands were scorching as they slid down her back, and Ryder was leaving tingles as he smiled at her.

He tilted her face toward David, and she sighed the moment those sapphire eyes locked onto hers. Home.

“Hi, baby.” David didn’t act bothered by Ryder at all. He leaned down, kissing her on the lips. His brand . . . his brand was back in place, though not for a second did it feel it would destroy her. As he leaned away, he kept on hand on her cheek and spoke to Ryder, “Did she stay the night with you?”

“Yeah.” Ryder shifted, sitting fully on his ass and pulling her onto his lap again. “I just said something . . . triggered it. I guess she’s been avoiding it.”

A humming sound mixed with their voices, but she tried to keep her eyes on David. He was furious, his jaw tight as he listened to Ryder, but his touch. Oh, his touch right beside Ryder’s . . . Heaven.

“What’s going on out here?” It was her mom.

Ryder answered, “Just bringing her home.”

“She was supposed to be home at a decent hour last night.”

Jane clutched Ryder’s shirt with one hand, but she also grabbed David’s wrist, afraid to have them taken away.

David smiled at her. “It’s okay.”

Her mom had been approaching, but she came to a sudden halt, her gaze narrowing on David.

“You were supposed to stay with Lance.”

He slowly met her mother’s glare and moved his hand to intertwine his fingers with Jane’s. “I came home to check on Jane.”

“I told you what I expected of you,” her mother told David, her words tight. “I’ve already spoken to Jane, and she understands nothing can happen between you two. Is that not clear by the fact that she stayed the night with this boy?”

David darted his eyes between her and Ryder. Pain.

Jane whimpered, reaching up to touch his lips, sobbing when he smiled and kissed her fingers.

“It’s okay,” he told her, nodding to Ryder as well. “It’s okay.”

“I fucking know it’s okay,” Ryder said before pressing a sweet kiss to her temple.

David stood and faced her mom. “Sarah, I love you because you make my dad happy. I usually obey you because you’re his wife, but you’re not my mother. I’ve never been able to see you that way because I’ve been in love with Jane for as long as I can remember—before you ever thought about my father romantically.”

For a few seconds, he stayed silent, weighing his words. That same determination he’d shown in the car ride was there; he wasn’t hiding his feelings anymore. “You knew about us, and you hid a relationship with my dad, let him think Jane liked Ryder more than me, and you let him tell Jane instead of telling her yourself. For that, you will only be the woman who married my dad, and I will no longer pretend Jane is merely my stepsister. We don’t see each other that way.”